Reaction-driven relaxation in three-dimensional Keller-Segel-Navier-Stokes interaction (Q2070864)

The author studies the Keller-Segel-Navier-Stokes system \[\begin{cases} n_t + u \cdot \nabla n = \Delta n - \chi \nabla \cdot (n \nabla c) + \rho n - \mu n^2, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty),\\ c_t + u \cdot \nabla c = \Delta c -c +n, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \\ u_t + (u \cdot \nabla) u = \Delta u + \nabla P + n \nabla \phi + f(x,t), & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \\ \nabla \cdot u =0, & \quad (x,t) \in \Omega \times (0,\infty), \end{cases}\] endowed with homogeneous Neumann boundary conditions for \(n\) and \(c\) as well as homogeneous Dirichlet boundary conditions for \(u\) and initial data \((n_0, c_0, u_0) \in C^0(\bar{\Omega}) \times W^{1,\infty} (\Omega) \times (W^{2,2} (\Omega) \cap W^{1,2}_0 (\Omega) \cap L^2_\sigma (\Omega))\) such that \(n_0\) and \(c_0\) are nonnegative with \(n_0 \not\equiv 0\). Moreover, it is assumed that \(\Omega \subset \mathbb{R}^3\) is a bounded convex domain with smooth boundary, \(\rho \in \mathbb{R}\), \(\chi, \mu >0\), \(\phi \in W^{2,\infty} (\Omega)\), and \(f \in C^1 (\bar{\Omega} \times [0,\infty); \mathbb{R}^3)\) is such that \[\sup\limits_{t>0} \int_t^{t+1} \| f(\cdot, s)\|_{L^p (\Omega)}^q \, ds < \infty\] for some \(p > \frac{3}{2}\) and \(q > \frac{2p}{2p-3}\). Here, \(n\) denotes the density of a population, \(c\) the concentration of a chemoattractant, \(u\) the fluid velocity field and \(P\) the correponding pressure. Assuming the above conditions, the author proves the following result: For any \(\omega >0\) there are \(\eta, \kappa >0\) depending on \(\omega\) such that if in addition \[\rho < \eta \cdot \min \left\{\mu, \mu^{\frac{3}{2}+\omega} \right\} \quad\mbox{and}\quad \limsup\limits_{t \to \infty} \int_t^{t+1} \| f(\cdot, s)\|_{L^{\frac{3}{2} + \omega} (\Omega)}^2 \, ds < \kappa,\] then the global generalized solution to the above problem from [\textit{M. Winkler}, J. Funct. Anal. 276, No. 5, 1339--1401 (2019; Zbl 1408.35132)] is a classical solution to this problem in \(\overline{\Omega} \times [t_0,\infty)\) for some \(t_0 >0\) large enough. Moreover, any such solution is eventually uniformly bounded in the sense that \[\limsup_{t \to \infty} \left\{ \| n(\cdot,t)\|_{L^\infty(\Omega)} + \| c(\cdot,t)\|_{L^\infty(\Omega)} + \| u(\cdot,t)\|_{L^\infty(\Omega)} \right\} \le C\] for some constant \(C = C(\omega,f)\). The proofs rely on the analysis of global classical solutions \((n_\varepsilon, c_\varepsilon, u_\varepsilon, P_\varepsilon)\) to appropriate approximate problems. For these solutions and some of their spatial derivatives appropriate uniform estimates in certain \(L^p\) spaces are derived which in a first step lead to an appropriate eventual smallness property of \(\nabla c_\varepsilon\). In a second step, an appropriately constructed entropy-type functional leads to further bounds on \(n_\varepsilon\) and \(\nabla c_\varepsilon\). In conjunction with the regularity theory for parabolic and Stokes problems they imply certain Hölder estimates for the solution components leading to the claimed results.